Radio Academy Awards

Indie successes at the ARIAs

October 19th saw the welcome return of the Radio Academy Awards under their new title the Audio & Radio Industry Awards - the ARIAs- and at a new out-of-London venue, the First Direct Arena in Leeds. In a star-studded evening, indies put on a good showing, picking up two Golds, four Silvers and a Bronze, in the 10 categories where they could compete. This included programmes broadcast across several BBC networks, plus podcasts.

Indies once again punched above their weight, winning Gold Awards for ‘Moment of the Year’ and ‘Best Sports Show’ plus a range of Silver and Bronzes. This proves that in the coming years, the extra hours that will be available for indies to compete for to make BBC programmes promise to deliver a good range of high-quality productions to Licence Fee payers.

So congratulations to:

GOLDS:

Shooting Shark Productions - 'Best Sports Show' for "606", for BBC Radio 5 LiveTBI Media - 'Audio Moment of the Year' for "The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away", for BBC Radio 4 SILVERS:

IMG Radio - 'Best Digital Audio Service' for "Live@Wimbledon Radio", on behalf of the All England Lawn Tennis Club

Rethink Audio - 'Podcast of the Year' for "The Modern Mann"Folded Wing - Jamie Cullum as 'Music Broadcaster of the Year', for BBC Radio 2

Loftus Media - 'Audio Moment of the Year' for "Where are you going New York", for BBC World Service

Radio Academy Awards - yet another great year for indies

Radio Indies celebrated as today’s Radio Academy Awards nominations showed the sector continuing to punch above its weight and win nominations across 19 different categories. Overall, there were 29 nominations involving indie producers, with 20 different indie production companies being nominated for one of the prestigious awards.

Out‐of‐London indies featured six times, with Manchester’s Sparklab and Smooth Operations amassing four separate nominations between them, plus Swindon‐based Fresh Air productions and Brighton’s Pier Productions were each nominated.

Examples of indie nominations include:

‐ Best Coverage of a Live Event ‐ TBI Media and Snappin’ Turtle Productions were nominated for The Dambusters – 70 Years On with BBC Radio 2

‐ Best Music Programme ‐ Folded Wing’s Jamie Cullum Show, now syndicated in many countries around the world, along with Smooth Ops’ People’s Songs

‐ Drama – Pier’s Babbage and Sparklab’s How To Have A Perfect Marriage

Overall 26 nominations were for independent productions, and indie companies also picked up a further three, with two being for Best Creative Innovation (Somethin’ Else and TBI Media); and one for Best Technical Innovation (Wise Buddah).

RIG Managing Director Will Jackson said: “I’d like to congratulate all of RIG’s members who have been nominated. These nominations reflect the breadth and diversity of radio indies, large and small and based around the UK, and working across a wide range of specialties. By continuing to innovate and bring new talent, stories and perspectives to listeners, indies are playing a significant part in radio’s continuing popularity. We are continuing to talk to the BBC and commercial broadcasters, as well as to the Government, about how we can make an even greater contribution going forward”.

*** Please click on link "Radio Academy Awards" on left to see the full list of indie nominations

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